Love In The Air

Chapter 7 Continued

While Pai was thinking of ways to find Sky, Rain was sitting in his room with his own worries. He let out a sigh deep in thought. A month has 30 days, 4 weeks, which makes it 4 weekends and a total of 8 holidays, from which if you were to subtract the time it takes for him to write and draft his reports, prepare his presentation and complete all of his work for university. How much time is left?

Most people would have a timetable to map out their studies. Rain, however, on the other hand, had a large sheet of paper with timings he was able to see Payu. “Now that I have given my word, I am going to commit to it.” He told himself.

“Hey Rain” Sky scared Rain. He snatched the paper from the desk and pulled it into his chest like he was protecting his family jewels.

“Oh hey,” Rain said with surprise dripping into his voice. “My dear friend.” Sky sat next to him smiling, but Rain noticed that his eyes were fixated on the paper that he currently clutched to his chest.

“It’s strange to look at you” Sky told Rain. “You’re being so diligent.”

“I need a timetable”, Rain responded. “It’s time for me to focus and work hard”, Rain told Sky, trying to steer the conversation away from what was actually on the paper. He sighed as he realised that Sky had not asked what happened with Payu. He was itching to ask his friend for his advice but didn’t want to bring up Payu. “Should I tell Sky about flirting and making Payu fall for me?” He questioned himself, but quickly refused the idea. He was scared that Sky would criticise him and make fun of him for it. “Sky would think I am crazy to flirt with the guy who I wanted to fight against” he told himself. “I have even told Sky I hated him.” Rain wanted to keep some amount of dignity, so he subtly tried to bring Payu up. “Bud, if I wanted to flirt with someone and only had 30 days to do it. What should I do?” Rain asked.

“Someone other than Ple?” Sky replied. Sky always surprised Rain with how perceptive he was. Rain suddenly remembered the girl that he was trying to pursue before he met Payu, but couldn’t help but think that the feelings were not the same. Was it because of the kiss? Sky had amazing instincts about people, and he knew that this was definitely not about Ple. He had watched Rain trying to flirt with her for months unsuccessfully.

“I think you need to see this person every day” Sky joked. “If you are lucky enough you may succeed.” He was relieved that his friend had moved on from this situation with Phi Payu. It meant that there would be less of a headache. The universe would return to the normal and peaceful way of living. If only Sky knew how huge a misunderstanding his thoughts were. What Sky didn’t know was that it was they were both thinking about the same person at the time.

“You are right!” Rain shrieked as he agreed. “But where should I meet this person?”

“What????” Sky questioned. “Is it really someone else?” He would never have really thought Rain would move on.

“Hehe” Rain laughed. “Yes, it’s a different person. By the way, have you started your class report?” Rain asked, trying to distract Sky from trying to find out who he was talking about.

“My report is the same as yours” Sky told Rain with irritation. “We are on the same team. Have you started to work on it yet?” Rain smiled sheepishly and looked away.

After their classes had finished, Rain was scanning through his diary and decided that his plan for the moment was to meet Payu daily. They would see each other face to face for the next thirty days. That should hopefully soften Payu’s heart towards him. He remembered Payu telling him that he would never be able to succeed. “I’ll do it”. He told Payu. “Wait and watch!” As his class was dismissed, his professor had given his class an assignment which had to be submitted the next morning at 08:30am. Rain rushed out of university with the intention of kicking his plan into gear. The only place he could see that happening and the best place to approach Payu would be at his garage.

As he walked in, a man he recognised greeted him. “Oh, you came to meet Phi Payu?” the forklift driver asked.

“Hello Phi” Rain replied.

“I am Aon” he introduced himself. “You can call me Phi Aon.” Rain greeted him but was still angry at him for what had happened previously.

“You told me there wouldn’t be any problem with my car last time?” Rain asked him with sarcasm seeping from every word.

“Hahahaha” Aon laughed. “There is no way Khun Payu would make any mistakes”, Aon continued to explain. “He was pulling a prank and more so, if your car gets fixed then you wouldn’t be showing up here.” Aon joked, making Rain giggle.

“Where is Phi Payu?”

“I knew you were here to meet him!” Aon shouted and forgot to clear the misunderstanding from before.

“Phi Aon,” Rain started. “Phi Payu and I are just senior and junior to each other.” Aon didn’t believe a word of it, he laughed while waving his hands in front of his face.

“Don’t be shy” Aon told him. “I know everything.” Aon struggled not to laugh again at how Rain was getting embarrassed. “Oh, and if you want to meet the boss, wait for him in the office.” Rain wanted to argue with him to clear up any misunderstanding, but Aon was already moving towards the office before he could even speak up. At least Aon didn’t think he was a stranger and called the police. “What time is your date with Khun Payu?”

“Phi Payu doesn’t come here every day?” Rain asked. If he was to show up in front of Payu every day, he had to know his movements.

“Khun Payu works around the clock.” Aon started to explain. “He comes in mostly during his days off. Khun Saifah is in charge mostly here, but today Khun Saifah is on a date with his girlfriend.”

“Saifah?” Rain questioned. Why had he never heard the name before?

“Khun Payu’s twin brother.”

“Oh”

“Why don’t you call him and ask?” Aon told him. “You must have his number, right?” Rain started to claw at his head, unable to answer Aon. He did have Payu’s number, but the thought of calling him and hearing the deep voice over the phone made his heart skip a beat. But if he didn’t call Payu then the trip here would be wasted.

“Oh”, Aon thought he had realised what was happening. “You want to surprise him! Let me call him and tell him someone is waiting for him here.” Rain was surprised Aon was being so friendly towards him.

“Why do you think Phi Payu and I aren’t just junior and senior?” Rain asked timidly, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

“Oh, that’s because Khun Payu brought you here to sleep at the workshop”, Aon told Rain without a second thought.

“But that was only because it was raining so heavily, and I was caught in the storm with no vehicle”, Rain told Aon.

“I don’t know if it was because of the storm or not” Aon responded. “All I do know is that you travelled in his car and shared a bedroom with him and there is only one bedroom and bed here. What else could be going on then?” Aon giggled like a teenager.

Rain's inner monologue kicked into high gear. “Oh god! This is sooooo embarrassing. Just because we were in the same room doesn’t mean anything happened” Rain told himself. “Which means everyone in the garage thought something had happened?” He was beginning to panic now. “Wait a minute! How many other people had Phi Payu brought here for them to think so? Wow, this is great! You tell me that I am not your choice, but that means you have many people who you chose to bring here.” Rain seethed. He was feeling restless and wanted to punch Payu in that gorgeously handsome face. “Okay, what kind of person are you, Phi Payu?” he questioned himself.

As Rain sat seething in the garage office, Payu had received a phone call from the workshop telling him that there was a guest waiting for him. He was surprised and could guess who it was. Although he was surprised that Rain would dare to come to the garage so quickly. He thought he would stop by school for a while. As Payu made his way, he couldn’t help but think that things were going smoothly. He tried to finish up his work and leave the office as quickly as possible; he was desperate to see Rain’s face.

Once he reached the garage, he jumped out of his car and rushed into the office, where he was met with a set of cloudy eyes. The eyes turned towards Phi Aon, who was talking to Rain. “If you want to know more, just ask” Aon told Rain. “I will try to answer anything I can.”

“What are you talking about?” Payu asked as he walked into the office.

“Oh Boss!” Aon stood. “You are here? I was accompanying Khun Rain here. He has been waiting for over 2 hours.” Payu wasn’t prepared for the jealousy that surged through him. They became friendly within 2 hours. Payu turned to the older man of the two.

“Isn’t it your son’s birthday today?” Payu asked him, using this as an excuse to get rid of the older man quickly.

“Ah yes!” Aon responded as if he had just been reminded. “I’d better leave.” The older man scurried away; of course, Payu gave him his best scary eyes as he left. There were only the two of them in the office now. Payu turned to look at Rain and expected him to blush or make funny faces, but Payu couldn’t help but notice that Rain was angry.

“Cat got your tongue”, Payu teased Rain.

“Damn you” Rain cursed. Payu frowned and took 2 long steps towards Rain, who sat on the sofa.

“Phi has already warned you clearly that I hate people that curse and don’t have manners.” Rain shivered but stood up to grab his bag and leave.

“I am sorry” Rain apologised. “I am leaving.”

GASP

He was pulled back by the big guy who grabbed his arm. He didn’t know what he had done to make Rain mad. “What happened?” If Rain was going to be mad at him, he wanted to know what he had done.

“It’s nothing.” Rain snapped. “You just got back from work, you must be tired and want to chill out. I won’t disturb you.” Rain tried to walk away but Payu wouldn’t let go.

“Don’t tell me” Payu started to tell him authoritatively. “You waited for me for 2 hours and barely saw me for 2 minutes and you are satisfied with that?” Payu smiled, his heart racing. “That means you deeply care for me and already are in love with me.” He teased Rain. Rain couldn’t help but think that it was unbelievable that someone could be so narcissistic. Although on the other hand, he was born with such a handsome face, did he not have the right to be narcissistic?

“No” Rain responded. “I am not in love with you. I am not like other people.” Payu frowned while looking at Rain. His hands held onto his arms a little firmer, which made it more difficult for Rain to escape. He sighed, getting tired from struggling and stood still.

“Are you jealous, perhaps?”

“Have you gone crazy?” Rain snapped, looking at Payu and then looked away immediately. Payu’s smile was blinding.

“It is clearly obvious”, Payu teased him. “Rain is getting jealous.”

“No, I am not” Rain countered. He was going through the inner turmoil of being attracted to a man for the first time. He didn’t normally like men, but that looked like it was about to change.

“Are you sure?” Payu asked him.

“Sure” Rain replied softly. The more he spoke to Payu the softer his voice became. Rain’s will to withstand Payu was becoming weaker and weaker with every interaction they had. Rain looked down at the big warm hands that were grasping his.

“Rain” Payu uttered. Rain didn’t want to look up at Payu but the soft voice that he used had Rain looking up instinctively. When, all of a sudden, Rain felt the warmth of Payu’s lips pressing on his own.

“Oyyee” Rain protested, trying to push him away, but Payu was faster than Rain. He pulled the smaller body towards him so that he felt the heat radiating from Payu. The lips crushing against each other covered any sound of protest. As soon as he withdrew from the kiss, he leaned towards Rain’s ear.

“If you don’t want me to hang around with others”, Payu whispered with lust in his voice. “Then make sure I fall for you hard, so that I will only have eyes for you.” Payu gave Rain a loving smile before placing a gentle kiss on his lips, making Rain blush. Rain blushed more because of the smile rather than the kiss. “But I think you are going to give up.” Rain didn’t have time to revel in the shyness when he was rebuked by Payu. This kicked Rain’s temper into full gear.

“No, I am not going to give up” Rain said stubbornly.

“It’s going to be difficult.”

“Well, I have already said that I will make you love me” Rain told him. “This means I will.” Old habits die hard. He had fallen into the trap set by Payu once again. Rain heard Payu giggle and turned to make his way out of the door. “I am leaving.”

“Wait.” Payu told him while grabbing his arm again. “Let me take you to dinner.” Payu asked him. “Just in case you want to see me for longer.”

“Who wants to eat with you?” Rain retorted. Payu could hear the hurt and anger that was dripping through Rain’s voice. “Damn I should have been more assertive” Rain told himself as he was dragged from room.... willingly. “This is all to win his heart” Rain assured himself. “Nothing else” The boy who looked unwilling to go with his senior reached out to take a hold of Payu’s hand.